over 25 flavors of kellogg's pop-tarts®. and they're all for fun and fun for all. pop-tarts®. made for fun™. we did not receive the miracle we prayed for. >> heart break in west virginia. overnight the bodies of four missing miners were found inside a coal mine. how officials are trying to stop the tragedy from happening again. good morning, i am aaron gilchrist. and a little cool this morning, but a nice day, justin. >> yeah, that's right. it's a bit of a chilly start. we are not used to this, and it

has been a week and a half since we have seen temperatures down in the 40s, but this is typical for an early morning april start. and still some 30s showing up across the virginia piedmont down towards culpepper, and even towards the mountains we are looking at the 30s. here in the district, mid-40s, and prince georges county, and frederick another cool spot at 39 degrees. the sun will come up at 6:39 this morning, and plenty of sunshine warming us back up this afternoon. and just a beautiful forecast, and we will have the complete details coming up. >> average is pretty nice these days. thank you very much, justin. we are following breaking news from russia this morning. that's where the polish president and his wife are dead. there are conflicting death tolls, but as many as 132 people

were onboard that plane when it went down early this morning in russia. the plane was coming down for a landing, but never reached the runway. it hit tree tops and fell apart. the president lech kaczynski and his wife were onboard along with the country's most prominent leaders. we are following a developing story out of west virginia. despite the hopes and prayers, a tragic end of four missing miners have been found deep inside a coal mine. that discovery was announced overnight. a massive blast left the inside of the upper big mine a mess. the governor made the announcement about 1:00 this morning. >> none of the chambers had been deployed.

and none of our miners suffered. so this journey has ended. and now the healing will start. >> the violent explosion killed 29 people making this the worse u.s. mining disaster in a generation. massey energy company has been repeatedly cited for the problems that has methane. president obama ordered a quick investigation into why so many died and why federal officials cited the mine but did not shut it down. >> the government and their employers know that they owe it to these families to do everything possible to insure their safety. >> both the house and senate

plan to hold hearings to examine the possible reason for the exsploenson. and the extended player, gilbert arenas, is in jail. he will have a 10 by 10 and be required to do chores and add here to a curfew. he will be punished with two years probation and a $5,000 fine and 400 hours of community service. today is round three of the master's tournament, and it's a day three of tiger woods -- it's day three of tiger woods' comeback. he is trying to recover from the recent scandal. nbc's kristin dolldrin has the story. >> easily making the cut.

he starts today at 6 under and within shot of the lead. >> it feels good to be back and in contention. >> even in the shots that he missed, things seem to be falling into place and woods' effort to turn the focus from the tabloids to the tease. >> he is able to concentrate despite the controversy going around him. >> and with every hole support seemed to grow. and off the course he seemed to get a break as well, the plane that dragged banners did not return. analysts say that's nothing to stop tiger. >> people are amazed of his ability to come back after the 5-month layoff.

woods is a four-time master's champ. and his last win at the master's was in 2005. new today, a man shot to death in southeast washington. it happened around 2:00 this morning in the 600 block of 46th place. police have not released any information on the suspect or a motive. and a woman is in critical condition after a stabbing that sent two other people to the hospital. police are calling it a domestic abuse. two men were also injured. and one was stabbed in the back and the other on his hand. no word on their conditions. >> a metro access driver was fired after prosecutors charged him with sexually assaulting a passenger. he was accused of assaulting a passenger with special needs. this happened in january.

he was suspended several weeks without pay until he was fired on thursday. metro says that he passed the background checks before being hired. >> anytime we receive something like this, we act quickly. and we are happy we made the arrest and made the appropriate charges and this person will get his day in court. >> we don't have control of everything that happens, but when we get reports like this we act immediately. >> metro contracts to provide metro band service. now a bill goes to the governor's desk for approval. you can only be pulled over for another offense, though. we have more on thousand the cell phone bill could impact

maryland drivers. >> it's something many people in maryland do, and even people driving prince georges county vehicles. but they know all too well the dangers that come while driving and talking on your cell phone. >> we know the pain of somebody losing a family member on the highway. >> their daughter was 26 when her car was hit in florida, but a driver of a tractor trailer was on his cell phone. the family testified in front of the general assembly to ban the practice. and after the bill passed the maryland senate, and today the cell phone use bill passed in the house as well. >> and i think it's good. we don't need to be talking on the cell phones all the time. it's dangerous. >> it would still be legal to use a cell phone at a stoplight. but as soon as the car is in

motion, the phone must be put down. for parents worried about kids texting or talking behind the wheel, there is a app that solves the problem. a program shuts the phone off so they cannot make phone calls or receive phone calls leaving their attention for the road. and a representative says three of ten crashes were caused by somebody talking to their cell phone while driving. that is three crashes every minute in the country. it would be a $40 fine after the first offense and then jumps to $100 for repeat offenders. >> i think they should have their license suspended for a week. that's so they can understand that eventually somebody will be hurt. >> the cell phone bill is headed

to governor o'malley's desk. and there is a bill advanced that would legalize medical marijuana. it would recat gau rise marijuana as a highly regulated medication, like morphine. the bill has bipartisan support and the maryland house is studying a similar bill but won't take it up for the next few months. somebody in virginia is a quarter of a million dollars richer, and that person needs to give me a call -- and that person doesn't know who is it right now. police arrest a man for taking a picture of his camera phone. why more cases like this could be in the works. plus the changing of the guard on the supreme court. how one retirement could change the way the high court rules. and a chilly start this weekend, but a warmup in the work

fairfax county police used facebook to bring parents together for a community meeting on child predators. it was held last night on west ox road. they talked about how child

predators used new media like facebook to find new victims. >> we feel like virtually that's where people are, their eyes on are on computers and that's where they are on, and they get a lot of calls on the phone based on those announcements. >> the department says it plans to hold more community meetings on this subject. it's a crime that can happen to just about anybody at anytime. somebody taking a cell phone picture of you without your consent or knowledge. but now for the first time, fredericksburg police said they charged somebody with that offense. >> reporter: this manassas man faces up to five years in prison because of a picture he took with his cell phone camera. it happened on march 19th. a 14-year-old girl was waiting for her mother in the car. the girl was resting on the

passenger side. the seat was reclined and her feet were on the dashboard and her eyes were closed, and then she heard a sound that drew her attention. she noticed a man taking her photo with a cell phone and she got his license plate. and the police tracked down the man, and found that he still had the photos on his phone, and they were not of the teenager's face. >> inadd vuher underwear was sh and he sent those pictures to friends. >> it was originally put on the books to handle people that took photos in private areas, like the bathroom, but now they include when the pictures have a certain focus. >> it applies to the photographing or videotaping of

a person's intimate body parts without the person's permission. >> reporter: with the prevalence of cell phone cameras, prosecutors could increasingly see cases like this one. >> when they find out they have been photographed, and if they find themselves with compromising pictures on a website, i think that we are going to see more prosecutions in this area. >> the mother of a 1-year-old says this kind of case is wur kr worry some. professor o'neal points out that while today's technology eroded the privacy zones, laws like these can keep public moments out of bounds.

if you are about to head out for a run, you might want to grab a sweatshirt. >> it's a beautiful weekend on tap across the mid-atlantic. and we will talk about temperatures warming up with lots of sunshine, and how long the weather will stick around when news4 returns.

a special opportunity for the christian faithful in italy today. the famed shroud goes back on display. it dated well after jesus died, but other scientists say the cloth tested may not be a good sample. if you bought a mega millions ticket last fall, you may want to take a second look at it. somebody has not come forward to claim a quarter of a million dollar prize. it was bought in chester field county across from the county courthouse. 17, 31, 34, 45, and 51. if nobody comes forward by monday at 5:00, that ticket will expire. a sad day for somebody if they don't claim that money. if you are thinking you still want to feel lucky, maybe the

forecast will do it for you. justin drabick is in storm center 4. not boiling hot like earlier in the week. >> no, it's typical for april to be in the 60s, and that's what we are dealing with. somewhat of a cool start if you want to call it that, but we are in the 30s and 40s outside right now and just a great view out in the sky. the sun should be up in a few minutes. a few clouds off to the north and east. not posing a threat to the weather today. plenty of sunshine is in the forecast, and right now here in national airport, we are looking at mid-40s. this is one of the warmer areas. but outside the beltway, the temperatures cool back down into the 30s in some locations. and a dew point of 29, and today's record low temperature of 28 degrees was set back in 1977. no record lows coming up in the forecast, but because of the cold temperatures and some of the cold spots, there was a frost advisory in effect last

night in areas outside the shenandoah area, but you have to go west outside the mountains to get freeze warnings. and southwest virginia out towards west virginia itself is where that is at. and the lows have dipped down in the mid-30s, so you can see outside the district temperatures have fallen down to the 30s and similar numbers out over the eastern shore as well. and then we are seeing low temperatures right now, and it may drop a degree or two, and then start to slowly climb up to the mid morning hours. nothing on radar this morning. outdoor activities planned, go for it, we are looking good. cold pocket of air still remains in place out over the midwest and mid-atlantic area, so that will be the coldest spot across the eastern half of the u.s. and the reason is we have a trough of low pressure starting to lift out. april snow is flying out in upstate snoerk. and mid to high level clouds

across pennsylvania, but the trough is beginning to rotate out of here. we start to allow the temperatures to climb up back to the 60s and even 70s as we round out the weekend. future cast keeps us dry and clear through today and tomorrow and then we watch a front coming through the north. looks like moisture is limited so it should be dry with a few clouds. and sunny, comfortable, and low to mid-60s for a high temperatures, and west breeze, 10 to 15. and then the warm spots will rotate the winds out of the southwest at 10-15, so that's why we get the warmup. a few more clouds move in later sunday because of the cold front moving in from the north, but still just a very nice end of the weekend in the 70s. monday, partly cloudy and 68 degrees. and then another shot of cool air starts to build back in here for tuesday and wednesday. highs in the low to mid-60s. again, that's pretty much near

average. and then we start to climb back up again as we approach 70 degrees by thursday and friday, and, again, look at the nice stretch of weather, pretty much where we should be for april. >> no rain, so it's safe to wash the car. >> the pollen will be around, but you can get some of it off. >> thank you, justin. >> sure. justice john paul stevens, the oldest member of the high court is tiri retiring from the bench. nbc's pete williams reports. >> john paul stevens will leave the court after 34 1/2 years, the justice is retiring.

>> he has applied the constitution and the laws of the land with fidelity and restraint. he will soon turn 90 this month but leaves his possession at the top of his game. >> the court's only ford nominee, he became the anchor of the court's liberal ring. so the choice of his replacement by a democratic president is what would happen. because justice stevens was able to attract swing votes, his vote made close decisions. >> we may be losing the left on

the supreme court. >> it also happens he is the current courts only protestant, and it's clear he is not leaving now because he has to. >> it's extraordinary that he is able to work at this level and at the absolute top through all the way up to age 90 i think is just remarkable. >> that was pete williams reporting. the man that became the court's leading liberal was nominated by a republican president, gerald ford, and confirmed 98-0, a consensus almost unimaginable in this era. here is your sports minute. >> good morning, everybody. your sports in a minute on a saturday morning begins with the capitals who are on fire. last night, alex ovechkin and nicholas backstrom

added goals. backstrom scored his 100th point of the season on the same play. and they became the eight set of teammates to notch the milestones in the same game. they close out their season on sunday. to basketball, and the wizards pulled out a shocker last night. the wizards led by as many as 28 points. washington beat boston for the first time this season. and then the nationals trying to build-up thursday's win over the phillies, and in new york they were facing the mets and the game got off to a great stop for the nationals, and the nationals had a early lead. but they could not get outs when they needed them and gave up four home runs.

have a terrific weekend. still ahead, gilbert arenas goes to jail. what it will be like for him behind bars. talk about a big dog on campus. kids meet up with the world's tallest pooch. stay with us.

this journey has ended, and now the healing will start. >> the search for four missing miners in west virginia is over. their bodies were discovered in a coal mine overnight. good morning, every one. welcome back to news4 today. kimberly suiters is off today, and it's saturday april 10th, 2010. first a quick look at the forecast today. meteorologist, justin drabick is standing in for chuck bell in storm center 4. >> you know you are going to need the sweatshirt or jacket if you are heading outside in the next couple hours or so with the temperatures in the 30s and 40s. it has been a little bit since we have seen numbers like this. you have to go back a week and a half or maybe two weeks. this is pretty much average for this time of year. a chilly start to the morning, but by the afternoon we will rebound nicely with lots of sun. 44 here at national airport just off to the west, and dulles at

43. and virginia piedmont, mid-30s right now. and then in the bay, no problems and in the mid-40s. and we should top off in the low to mid-60s by late afternoon, and then we warm up more for the second half of the weekend. details coming up in a bit. >> thank you, justin. >> sure. we are following breaking news from russia right now. that's where the polish president and his wife are both dead after a plane crash that left no survivors. there are conflicting death tolls right now but as many as 132 people were onboard the plane when it went down early this morning in western russia. this video just coming in. the plane was coming in for landing but never reached the runway. authorities say it hit tree tops and then fell apart. the polish ministry confirms, lech kaczynski and his wife were onboard along with the country's

most prominent leaders. we are also following a developing story out of west virginia. overnight crews found the bodies of four missing bodies. the death toll stands at 29, and the mission shifted from rescue to recovery. >> reporter: this time rescue workers could see clearly when they got deep in the mine and then counted the bodies. they were killed, said officials, by the original explosion on monday. and the first wave of rescue workers missed before. >> we did not receive the miracle we preyayed for. >> west virginians assume all the men were lost.

miner, allen cox, his face still black from today's shift. >> those guys were doing what i am doing, trying to feed their family and take care of them the best way they can. >> now comes the remoovl of the bodies and the investigation. >> the only good thing to come out of this is to educate everybody and put regulations in place if needed to make sure this doesn't happen again. >> the funerals began. 29 dead, husbands and fathers and mostly white, one black. and the extended of the west virginia family hit by the worse mining accident since 1970. >> president obama promise add quick investigation as to why the mine was cited but not shut down. >> both the house and senate plan to hold hearings examining possible causes of the explosion. gilbert arenas is now behind

bars. he arrived there last night after 7:30. he will spend two days there before transferred to a halfway house. jackie bensen has the details. >> reporter: basketball star gilbert arenas entered the detention center at 7:40 this weekend. the director of the county's department of corrections here. >> any prisoner coming in like this is processed, reviewed, interviewed, check out, and see how they are doing and they remain here in custody for the better part of two days. and then they're transported routinely without cuffs or anything else to the work release facility. >> after two days at the

detention center, he will be taken to the community-based halfway house. he will be assigned to a 10 by 10 room, and he will adhere to a curfew. >> the normal things you would do, frankly in a tightly controlled community correctional program. >> arenas received two years of probation and a $5,000 fine and 400 hours of community service which cannot be performed at basketball clinics. new today, a firefighter ended up in the hospital after a large blaze at a home in montgomery county. this happened in rockville around 12:30 this morning. firefighter officials say they found heavy flames coming from the roof and the second floor. neighbors alerted residents and

they were able to escape safely. and one firefighter suffered minor injures when he tried to escape. the damage to the home estimated to be more than $1 million. and neighbors had to alert each other about a fire when flames broke out just before 9:00 in hillcrest heights. fire officials say the flames appear to have started on the fourth floor and spread. there was a fire in the same building two weeks ago and some of the buildings' alarms were not working properly last night. so neighbors went door to dora lurting people to get out of the building. >> i looked out of the window and i saw flames. and the sky was on our side, and i said is there a fire? and he said, yes, yes, get out, get out. and i got out.

>> fire officials are investigating the cause of the fire, and no injuries were reported. more than 150 first responders, and hazardous responders and health care providers will participate. medical emt programs will serve as the mock victims. they will present findings to local and national teams. the time is 6:38 on this saturday morning. if you think traffic is bad now, just wait. we will tell you why it's about to get worse this weekends, even if you take the metro. plus, paying by phone. why you won't need spare change for parking meters any more. and justin will tell us how

hea hot it

we're going to have the worse trafric gridlock that we have seen since the inauguration. >> the summit does not happen until monday, but right now parking restrictions are in place near the convention center. and starting tomorrow night traffic will be restricted including metro access on the

yellow and green line at the convention center stop. jerry edwards has more on what you need to know to get around. >> reporter: driving in downtown washington could be a nightmare any day of the week, but over the next few days it could be impossible because of the nuclear security summit. the bottom line, stay away from the convention center. >> we are asking people to be aware of their surroundings and be patient but there will be motorcades moving periodically. >> chances are, you know, it's for a specific security reason or because they are moving people in and around town. and some of the notification we don't get advance notice of. so just be wary and prepared. >> k, l, m, and n streets will

be undriveable as well as 7 through 10th streets. there will be severe parking restrictions in place, and the mt. vernon square convention center will be closed and not re-open until wednesday morning. you can always go to the website, nbcwashington.com for the latest on closures and restrictions. jerry edwards, news4. starting monday, drivers won't need to worry about carrying spare change at some d.c. meters. they are testing a new pay-by-phone system. drivers have to first register their phone, their license plate and a credit card. and then they are ready to park and they can call in with the location and tell the system how long they want to park. the system sends drivers a text message when their meter expires and they get the option to add more time.

the "today" show is coming up next and it starts at 7:00. amy robach is in new york with a preview of what is coming up this morning. good morning, amy. >> coming up today, we have breaking news. the search is over for the coal miners trapped in west virginia. we have the latest from the scene. we are following a plane crash in russia, where all were killed including the president, lech kaczynski, and his wife. we will meet a man struggling all of his life with hoarding. he cannot stop collecting certain things and it's piling up. and wedding bells in store yet again for elizabeth taylor. if it's true it will be the ninth time for the 78-year-old

actress. aaron, back to you. >> keep trying until you get it right, i guess. no problems for her. thank you. and a beautiful day on tap. the sun is rising over the >> ...berber carpet. it was a whole bowl of stew. nooo. why? i could have saved this one. i could have saved this one. ♪ call 1-800-steemer

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it's sad, but the cherry blossoms left us and soon the festival will too. this morning the annual cherry blossom parade kicks off the 10:00. there is also a japanese street festival that runs most of the day. the cherry blossom festival wraps up tomorrow. it's going to be a great day if you want to get out and see some of that. justin drabick in storm center 4, and not too unbearable out there. >> yeah, we have been lucking out over the past several weekends, so a little bit of everything out there. last weekend was summer-like feel, and today we are going back to spring. look at that shot there. that's perfect. sunrise came up, and great job at zooming over the shot. and mainly clear, and that will be the trend throughout the rest of the afternoon. a bit cool, though. 44 degrees.

the national airport, 5 miles per hour. and then this morning's record low temperature is 28 degrees set back in 1977, so we are not quite there, but many areas did dip down into the mid to low 30s, and there is freeze warnings in effect towards the mountains in west virginia and out towards kentucky as well. the frost advisory that was in effect earlier was discontinued. the wind kept the frost from developing. and further west the temperatures falling down to near freezing your below. and closure to home looking at the mid 40s around the district, and marshal, 39, and 36 manassas. and live digital doppler radar showing nothing.

with you not see anything with those skies out there. and we are dealing with a cold pocket of air coming in from canada, and so the cold air mass still in place over valley, and then actually snow is flying out towards new england and upstate new york because of the cold air mass in place. and a lot of clouds hanging around the northeast, but starting to clear out over the washington area so a few clouds are still up to the north. and then the jet stream took a dive to the south, but it's beginning to lift out and so the cooler air mass will be situated over new england, and so now we are dealing with high pressure over us to the south and then future cast, as you can see, keeps us nice and clear. clear skies tonight and we allow the temperatures to drop down into the 30s, and then sunday a great start and even warmer. and then a front tries to sneak in from the north. sunday night and monday morning.

should come through dry with a few clouds. and so four today, enjoy plenty of sunshine. we will be in the 60s. tomorrow a beautiful day, and better, 72 for a high. humidity remains low, and a breeze out of the southwest. and then clouds to increase with the front, and then once the front passes, it looks like we get a shot of cooler air in here that drops the temperatures back into the low to mid-60s by midweek, and then we surge back up to nearly 70 degrees. a nice, dry forecast setting up. >> thank you. and the world's tallest dog goes to school. we will show you how he went face-to-face with kindergartners. that's when "news4 today" continues.

dw good morning, your sports, last night the capitals were awarded the president's trophy before their game against the thrashers, and then alex owevic kin scored his goal, and then the first 100 point season, and all the while the capitals won their fifth game in a row, and 5-2 over the thrashers. and then we are at the verizon center. and first period, no score.

mike green with the buck. and ovechkin takes a shot. and backstrom is there to stuff the goal. and caps take a 1-0 lead. and then second period, they trail by one. and then ovechkin fires it. and then third period, and tied at two. and then the 50th goal of the season on the same play, and backstrom gets his 100th point. >> i am sitting there and going okay, he just got his 100th and alex just got his 50th. who is picking up the puck? he does this every night, and that's the third game in a row with three points. he is a good player. >> the capitals close out their season at home on sunday. forget the tiger woods' took

five months off and went through his own personal inferno. he was well within striking distance at 6 under par. we are at augusta. tiger woods start of the day, two strikes back of the lead. yesterday tiger took advantage of the par 5, rolling in a long put for birdie. the only knock on his day was a bogey on number 4. as for phil mickelson, he was one under on the day. his approach on 30 yards odd lands on the green. he would birdie 17. and then two back from this guy, lee westwood. he roles it and shoots a three, and he is tied with the lead with fellow brit at minus 8. and then gilbert arenas

reported to the detention center, his teammates were playing the boston celtics on the road and winning. last night, blach let his play do the talking. the wizards won by 10. third quarter, wizards lead by 23. getting nice passing going. miller to andre. and then livingston had 25 points and seven assists on the night. and fourth quarter, the feed from miller, and then spins baseline and goes in for the reverse layup. and later in the fourth, the wizards on the fast break. miller gets it ahead to nick young. and nick young pulls up from three-point land and misses, but then it's put backith authority. the wizards held on to beat the celtics. the first time they have beat boston all season long.

the national spark was short lived. last night on the road they faced the mets, the worse home run team last season. they beat the nationals 8-2. we are in new york where the national's manager was bundled up. and then the pitch, he takes it to the left. and then adam dunn and pudge rodriguez there. and then the nationals would take a 2-0 lead. but the pitching staff could not hold it together. the fifth pitcher to surf up a two-run home run, the second of the game. the mets pound the nationals, 8-2. they play again this afternoon at 1:00. that will do it for your sports this saturday morning, i am lindsay czarniak, and have a

great weekend. we want to introduce you to george, a giant dog. i am not just saying that. the guinness book of world records certified him as the tallest doll in the world. he was in arizona, and a little girl named mackenzie hawkins loves george, and she talks about him all the time and the owner send her a picture, and so she was delighted when george showed up, and the kids will remember that show and tell for a long time. the dog is taller than the little girl. it looks like he is sitting on something. he eats out of a bucket instead of a bowl. that's it for "news4 today." coming up next is the "today" show, and we will be back in 25 minutes for more local news. and join us at 9:00 again for the latest local news, sports and weather. until then, we hope